Angel Host closed its seed funding round in August with $5.2 million USD led by White Star Capital and joined by Desjardins Capital, Panache Ventures, and other undisclosed investors.
The Montréal-based startup was founded in 2019 and specializes in an “all-inclusive tech-human solution” for the vacation rental management industry. It’s technology allows its users to delegate the tasks of listing creation, algorithmic-optimization, dynamic pricing, 24/7 guest services, and more.
Angel Host uses data pricing and performance analytics to generate listings optimized for all major booking platforms, such as AirBnb and Booking.com.
The company said its new capital is earmarked to “capitalize on the growing needs of the short-term and vacation rental industry.”
According to a report by AirDNA published in May, the short-term rental market in the United States has recovered to 2019 levels after taking a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic due to travel restrictions.
“In April 2021, demand increased by 66.4% over 2020 levels and 5.4% over 2019 levels, marking the first month since March 2020 where demand exceeded 2019 performance,” the report states.
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Mateo Bradford, strategic partnership and business development at At Ease Rentals Corporation, said to Phocus Wire that with the pandemic introducing the geo-flexibility of remote work and lifestyle, the demand for short-term rentals will only continue to increase.
Companies like Montréal-founded Sonder and Airbnb have felt the effects of COVID-19 and the changes in the short-term rental market.
With the numbers coming back to pre-pandemic levels Sonder has worked to go public on the NASDAQ in hopes of raising $650 million USD. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2021, followed a Series E raise by the company in 2020 that brought its valuation to $1.3 billion.
For Airbnb’s part, CEO Brian Chesky recently spoke about how demand for short-term rentals has come back since last summer, but with changes to consumer habits. He argued lines between leisure travel and remote work are blurring and creating new consumer patterns.